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Assessment of the proper nomenclature of LoepaMoore, 1859

and its type species (Saturniidae)

WOLFGANGA. NSSIG1, 2

1 Entomologie II, Forschungsinstitut und Museum Senckenberg, Senckenberganlage 25,60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; e-mail: wolfgang.naessig@senckenberg.de

2 Contributions to the knowledge of the Saturniidae, no. 70.

LoepaMoore, 1859 is a well-known genus of the family Saturniidae, occurring withabout 30 species in the southern Palaearctic and tropical Oriental regions, betweenIndia in the west, China (northern Hebei) in the north, Sulawesi, Mindanao andAmami-Oshima in the east and Java in the south. Species are frequently reared in cap-

tivity on Vitaceae; in the wild the caterpillars feed mainly on Vitaceae, Dilleniaceae,Saxifragaceae and Actinidaceae (Nssig et al. 1996: 137138; Yen et al. 2000: 159).The genus has also received renewed taxonomic attention in recent years (e.g., Nssig& Treadaway 1988; Nssig & Suhardjono 1989; Nssig et al. 1989; Brechlin 1997,2000; Naumann 1998, 2003; Naumann & Kishida 2001; Nssig & Ragus 2001; Yen etal. 2000). However, the nomenclatural accounts of the genus in the literature are marred

by several errors. These are explained and corrected here.Nssig & Treadaway (1988: 175) noted that the accepted type species ofLoepa, SaturniakatinkaWestwood, appeared to be based on a misidentification, and later (Nssig &

Treadaway 1998: 389) they noted that the accepted authorship of the genus, as Moore,1860 inHorsfield & Moore, 18581859, was incorrect. Nssig & Treadaway (1998)corrected the latter to Moore, 1859 but reserved resolving the apparent type speciesmisidentification until a thorough literature study had been conducted and, if necessary,the case had been prepared for submission to the ICZN. The confused nomenclature of

Loepamay be summed up as follows:Fletcher & Nye (1982) stated that Loepa Moore was originally published in 1860(= 18581859, inHorsfield & Moore 1860: 399). This catalogue (although cited even

by Moore 1859: 260 as having been published in 1858) was not available before 1860(see Cowan 1975; Fletcher & Nye 1982). Consequently, Fletcher & Nye interpretedSaturnia katinkaWestwood, 1848 [but see below for this publication date] as the typespecies ofLoepaby monotypy, as this was the only species included in the genus byMoore inHorsfield & Moore (1860).This delay in the publication of the Horsfield & Moore catalogue resulted in a synopsis

by Moore (1859: 260) that also contained the new genus nameLoepabeing published be-fore. The name is accompanied by a short but nevertheless valid description and includes,in addition to katinka,Saturnia thibetaWestwood, 1853, which Moore (1862a, 1862b)shortly afterwards placed in a new genus Caligula. Saturnia thibetais today included inthe genus Saturniavon Paula Schrank, 1802, subgenus RinacaWalker, 1855 (Nssig1994). In this first description ofLoepa, Moore (1859) provided no designation of a typespecies, neither by monotypy nor by original designation.

Nota lepidopterologica, 15.05.2007, ISSN 0342-7536

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The potential type species Saturnia katinkawas described by Westwood in 1847, not in1848. The Cabinet of Oriental Entomology was published in monthly fascicles, start-ing in ca. January 1847, each consisting of three colour plates and their text, according tothe information sheet bound into the copy of Westwoods book in the University Library

Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt am Main (formerly property of the entomolo-gist Carl von Heyden, 17931866). The illustration of Saturnia katinkawas published on

plate XII, text page 25, and the publication date of its fascicle is 1847 (probably April/May), although the work as a whole was completed only in 1848.In the Horsfield & Moore catalogue, Moore (1860) appeared to have misidentifiedSaturnia katinkaas he explicitly dealt only with Javanese specimens (ex coll. Atkinson),whereas Westwood (1847/48) had given the origin of Saturnia katinkaas Assam andSylhet and did not list Java, and the trueLoepa katinkadoes not occur in Sundaland (see

Nssig et al. 1996 and citations therein) but is a solely northern Indian/Himalayan spe-

cies (see also Nssig & Treadaway 1998: 389). Moore (1859: 260), however, recordedthe range ofL. katinkaas Hab. Assam; Silhet; Java and is therefore deemed to havecorrectly identified Westwoods species (ICZN 1999: Art. 70.1), even though he includedanother species in his concept ofL. katinka. The twoLoepaspecies known from Java arediscussed by Nssig & Suhardjono (1989).Swinhoe (1892: 247) designated a specimen from Assam from Westwoods type seriesas lectotype of Saturnia katinkaand thereby fixed the type locality of the species, buthe did not deal with generic types and left the issue regarding the type species of Loepaunresolved.Kirby (1892: 935) apparently was the first author to designate a type species forLoepa,in the Appendix to his Synonymic Catalogue placing an asterisk before the entryL. katinkaWestw., his method of denoting generic type species (Kirby 1892: vi). Thistype designation is valid as S. katinka is one of the two species included in Moores(1859) original description of the genus. Shortly after, Hampson (1893) stated more spe-cifically Type,L. katinka,Westw. under the heading of the genus, but Kirby (1892) isdeemed to have fixed the type species ofLoepavalidly by subsequent designation (ICZN1999: Art. 69).

From this state of affairs it can be concluded that:

a) the genusLoepaMoore was originally validly described by Moore (1859), not byMoore in Horsfield & Moore (1860), as established by Nssig & Treadaway(1998),

b) Moore (1859) correctly identified Saturnia katinkaWestwood when establishingthe new genusLoepa for it and for S. thibeta, but he did not designate either ofthem as type species for the genus,

c) the first valid type species designation of Loepa is that of Saturnia katinka byKirby (1892), and

d) the type locality ofL. katinkais Assam, as fixed by Swinhoes (1892) lectotypedesignation.

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Thus, only minor changes to the authorship ofLoepaand its type species are required tocorrect its nomenclature, but no major emendments to the long-held acceptance of thetype species ofLoepa and of its type locality. The correct nomenclature ofLoepathere-fore is as follows:

Genus LoepaMoore, 1859

Loepa:Moore (1859: 260).

Type species: Saturnia katinkaWestwood, 1847 (Westwood 1847/48: pl. XII, p. 25), by subsequent desig-nation by Kirby (1892: 935); type locality: Assam, by lectotype designation by Swinhoe (1892: 247).

Acknowledgements

Ulrich Brosch, Hille, prompted and supported the research with copies of some rare references. StefanNaumann, Berlin, and especially Rolf G. Oberprieler, Canberra, critically read the manuscript. Thanks are

due to two anonymous referees for helpful hints.

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Brechlin, R. 2000. Zwei neue Arten der GattungLoepaMoore, 1859 (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Nach-richten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo, N.F. 21(3): 165170.

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and more beautiful species of insects, natives of India and the adjacent islands, the greater portion ofwhich are now for the first time described and figured. London (W. Smith). 88 pp., 42 pls.

Yen, S.-H., W. A. Nssig, S. Naumann & R. Brechlin 2000. A new species of the miranda-group of thegenus Loepafrom Taiwan (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Nachrichten des Entomologischen VereinsApollo, N.F. 21(3): 153162.

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